Monthly Archives: January 2012

“Some people like to go out dancing
And other people’s, they have to work, just watch me now
And there’s even some evil mother’s
Well, they’re gonna tell you everything is just dirt
You know that, women, never really faint
And that villains always blink their eyes
And that children are the only ones who blush
And that life is just to die…” – Lou Reed

By Rich Lindbloom

Sweet Jane, (“whoa –oh-oh,” I heard you out there!), might be at the top of my all-time favorite songs. It is a serendipitous moment indeed when you’re flipping through radio stations and you’re fortunate enough to hear the Rock and Roll Animal sing ‘Standing on a corner…” If you don’t immediately crank the volume 4 or 5 notches, you clearly inhabit a world that is “just dirt.” The song comes as close to perfection as humanly possible. My favorite part in the song is when the background harmony comes in when they sing “And anyone who ever had a heart…” The song is the Sistine Chapel of music, Kaner’s overtime dagger in the sixth game of the Stanley cup finals. Clearly, it’s the smile on Mona Lisa’s come hither countenance. Read more »

As expected, Stan Bowman pulled the trigger on his first deal well-ahead of the February 27th trade deadline, sending defense prospect Brian Connelly to the Calgary Flames in exchange for veteran center Brendan Morrison.

“He’s a centerman and he’s got a long pedigree of being a good offensive performer,” Stan Bowman said speaking about Morrison on the team’s web site. “I think having that experience and that ability gives us a lot of options depending on where Joel wants to use him.”

Morrison, 36, has spent the past season and a half with the Flames. Chicago will be Morrison’s sixth NHL stop in five seasons. The 5-11 center was drafted out of the University of Michigan by the New Jersey Devils but would move on to spend parts of 8 seasons with the Vancouver Canucks (2000-08). Morrison was traded in March of 2000 to the Canucks for Alexander Mogilny.

The Blackhawks get a center who can set the table for skilled wingers while being defensively responsible. While falling down the Flames’ depth chart, Morrison was averaging 13 minutes per night and winning 50.3% of his face offs this season. Read more »

On this week’s edition of TTMI~Radio we discuss everything from pouting superstar hockey players to Saving the Children (and the gays) to 4-year old girls speaking in the third person.

In addition, in no particular order, we discuss…. teaching Marcus Kruger the cycle, United Center official scoring, Kerry Fraser’s book, emails on Bryan Bickell and waivers, Bolland and Pirri comparables, Hating on Twitter, our UFC picks, street clipboard peddlers, changing your Facebook status to something more particular, Vegas and UFC on Fox this Saturday night at the United Center and our pick.

The Chicago Blackhawks last game before the All Star break took place Tuesday night at the United Center. They played host to the pesky Nashville Predators who they lost to just three nights ago in Nashville 5-2. That game saw the Hawks captain leave with a wrist injury. Jonathan Toews joined his teammates Patrick Sharp and Dan Carcillo on the injury reserve list. It was also mentioned that Toews would forego the All Star festivities this coming weekend due to the injury. With Captain Serious watching from the press box Rockford superstar Brandon Pirri was recalled to hopefully ignite the Hawks.

Predators’ goalie Pekka Rinne was looking for his ninth straight win on Tuesday with his second start in as many nights. The Preds beat Columbus 4-1 on Monday in Nashville. Although Corey Crawford was pulled during Saturday’s contest, he did get the start for the home team. Read more »

Rockford extended its season-long winning streak to four games on Sunday in a 2-1 victory over the Milwaukee Admirals before of a sparse crowd of 3,938 on “Blackhawks Night” at BMO Harris Bank Center.

Carter Hutton was spectacular in goal once again, capping off seven days that will assuredly earn him AHL Player of the Week honors. Hutton stopped 33 shots against the Admirals in route to a 4-0-0-0 week in which Hutton allowed a total of five goals against.

“We got great goaltending tonight,” said IceHogs head coach Ted Dent. “It’s a nice way to finish off the weekend.”

It was a weekend that saw the IceHogs win three one-goal games, the first two coming in a home-and-home versus interstate rival Chicago Wolves. Despite an overall record (18-21-1-3) that still seats Rockford 3rd from the bottom team percentage of points wise in the league, the IceHogs have been good in games decided by a goal, 9-6-1-3.

That particular record hasn’t come around until of late for the young IceHogs. Rockford is 5-1-0-0 in their last six games decided by one goal. Two of those wins came in overtime.

“Earlier in the year, the one-goal games, the last five minutes of the game you just didn’t have a good feeling on the bench,” Dent said. “You felt like something bad was going to happen. And it was. It was always happening, bad. Now, I think there is a comfort level that we can defend a lead.” Read more »

Led by a red-hot Carter Hutton in goal and a stingy penalty kill unit that has now killed off 23 consecutive power plays against, the Rockford IceHogs completed a weekend home-and-home sweep of the Chicago Wolves Saturday with a 3-2 win in Rosemont, Illinois.

In front of 15,920 at Allstate Arena, the largest crowd the IceHogs have played in front of in nearly three years, Rockford accomplished a third period come back for just the third time this season, all three coming in the past fourteen days. Saturday night’s victory also extended the Wolves losing streak to a season-high four games and brings Rockford’s road record to within one game of .500 at 9-10-1-2.

Carter Hutton stopped 37 shots on Saturday in his fifth consecutive start (4-1-0-0). In those five starts, Hutton boasts a 1.39 GAA and 95.1% save percentage.

Saturday re-matched two teams that had played 24 hours earlier in Rockford. On Friday night, Rostislav Olesz’s goal midway through the second period stood as the difference in a 3-2 IceHogs’ victory. Read more »

The Blackhawks saw their seven-game point streak snapped after a sluggish game in Nashville against the division rival Predators. Despite two goals from Marian Hossa, a flurry of goals from the home team in the middle period turned out to be the difference in Chicago’s first regulation loss since January 6th.

The opening period was characterized by chippy play from both sides. Nashville out-chanced the visitors, but Marian Hossa managed to put the ‘Hawks on the board first on the team’s second shot of the period. Andrew Shaw dropped a short pass to Hossa at center ice, who gained the zone with enough speed to beat Shea Weber to the outside. He protected the puck as he crossed over and beat Rinne inside the right post for his 19th goal of the season.

Craig Smith drew the Preds even just over two minutes later with a power play goal. Rookie defenseman Ryan Ellis had an open lane from the blue line and Smith provided both the traffic in front of Blackhawks’ starter Corey Crawford and the finish on the rebound to make it a 1-1 game going into the first intermission. Read more »

En Garde!

By Rich Lindbloom

Opportunity; while it’s been said it only knocks once, in reality we are presented many opportunities throughout our lives. What we do with them, of course, is up to us. Marian Hossa was presented with a golden opportunity early in the second period against Buffalo that he didn’t waste-more on that later. For now, suffice it to say Hossa obliterated Enroth’s 5-hole. Before I go into my sagacious analysis of the last few games, I’d like to tell you about an opportunity that I let slip by recently. It’s haunted me for almost two months now.

It was the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving and I went to Jewel to pick up a few items. Unfortunately, the lines were about 10 people deep, even at the self checkout. To make matters worse, as the line was reduced to about 5 people in front of me, we were informed that there was a malfunction in the Visa machine and it had turned into a cash only line. It turned out I had enough to pay for the items I had and so continued to wait impatiently. As we finally approached the cashier, an older lady, who looked worrisome and worn down, put all of her items on the conveyor belt, all except a turkey. I asked her if she wanted me to put it on the belt for her and she said “Well…, yeah I guess so.” Read more »

With the Stanley Cup championship banner hanging from the United Center rafters, 5 ex champions, now Florida Panthers, invaded the place they called home, to play the Blackhawks. This would be the first time since winning the beloved cup that Kris Versteeg would play in the United Center. Brian Campbell, Tomas Kopecky, Jack Skille and wily vet John Madden were all a big part of bringing the Stanley cup to Chicago and ending a 49 year drought.

Old man Winter played havoc on fans and players arriving for the 7:30pm puck drop. With the snow falling, players found themselves arriving late and even the Panthers’ bus was not able to get the team to the UC on time, forcing some players to take cabs to the arena. All this considered, the game was pushed back to an 8:08 pm start. Read more »

The Chicago Blackhawks turned a tight game into a bit of a laugher Wednesday night at the United Center, pulling away behind a big night by Jonathan Toews and Chicago’s surprising rookies. Both Jimmy Hayes and Andrew Shaw both contributed two points as the Blackhawks cruised to a 6-2 win.

Chicago controlled the early going, but it was the Sabres getting on the board first when Brent Seabrook got caught a bit too far up the ice. Marian Hossa, who had just been denied a scoring chance in front of the net by Jhonas Enroth, dumped the puck into the corner. Jochen Hecht gathered the puck and fired a long pass that found the stick of Jason Pominville. The Sabres captain took advantage by beating Corey Crawford top shelf to give Buffalo a 1-0 lead with 9:30 in to the opening period.

Derek Roy was called for hooking moments later and the Blackhawks went on the power play. Hecht took advantage of a puck glancing off the referee and bore down on Crawford for what would have been a shorthanded tally. The attempt struck the post, skidded across the crease, and was kept out of the net by a quick-acting Patrick Kane. Read more »